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Around here, I think the rule of thumb is to wait until April 15 to make sure you miss the last freeze.  I think I like "after Easter" better, though!  I get pretty impatient to be out digging in the dirt. :)

What veggies are you growing?  I have garlic, carrots, and salad greens going in my enclosed porch.  I'm pretty sure my blackberries aren't going to make a comeback after last summer, but I'm hoping to get some herbs planted in that part of the garden in a couple of weeks.

After many years of dead plants we finally learned to wait.  Around here I have heard after Mothers Day....which is in May which is really hard to wait.  We actually planted asparagus upside down years ago and then realized what we had done, turned them over (after weeks of their little roots screaming) and they grew....but then we did it again the next year.  We had such a laugh over that.  Again, we flipped them over after weeks and they grew and we are now harvesting asparagus routinely. IT is the easiest thing to grow.  

This year I planted  sunflower seeds to eat the sprouts and as soon as they sprout the 2 leaves and get about 3-4 inches tall you pick them and put them in your salad.  They are so good and fresh and crunchy.  They are super easy.  YOu just soak the seed overnight, plant, water good, put newspaper over that and they will come up.  Super nutritious also.

We are planting all sorts of things but  the most exciting for me is collard greens, chard, red leaf lettuce, squash, leeks and my all my fruit.  I have a tiny little dwarf peach tree that is like the Littlest Giant.  It had 13 peaches on it last year, good sized peaches and it is so little.  Then a deer came and ate all the peaches and left me the pits! in one night!  So I am ready this year with a fence and I cannot wait to see what my little dwarf tree does.

Terry you got us all excited ......patience everyone.... wait for it ....wait for it...

Happy harvesting.  

Be glad you don't live in Wisconsin. We don't plant anything outside until Memorial Day and some years, even THAT is too soon...

In the spring I've been planting tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots and eggplant, along with different herbs for cooking.  Over the winter I grew cabbages and spinach.  Tried collard greens but they sulked and never did much.  The cabbages have been awesome sweet.  I'm wanting to expand to potatoes, maybe some melons and more greens.

I've been wanting to get out and plant since February.  In some things I have all the patience of a boiling teakettle.

Brrr Denise, that's waaaay too far north for this cajun girl.  When I was a teenager, we lived in Scotland for several years and that was the kind of growing season they had there.

Ooh Lana, love sunflowers.  They are like the ultimate happy plant.  I see them and just smile.  I can't help it.  Wish I had more room, I'd have all kinds of fruit trees and bushes.  Peaches, blackberries, figs, oranges, bananas...

We have to wait until around Memorial Day here in New England. I still have snow in my back yard, so I won't be planting any veggies any time soon. I just love going out and picking my vegetables for dinner in the summer! Last year we planted tomatoes, cucumbers, green and wax beans, corn on the cob (didn't work out), butternut and summer squash, eggplant, lettuce, jalapeno and red peppers, and many different herbs. On the other hand, some things are starting to pop through the soil in my front flower garden, so that should be looking pretty soon!

We're in the middle of mega-pollen season at the moment.  My car was painted red, but today is a weird orange with all the pollen on it. Gorgeous day, but oh my hay fever!

After study time today I'm going out to play in the dirt and plant seeds.  I've got potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, straight neck squash, spinach, and cabbage.  Around the fence there are a lot of concrete blocks - my catahoulas were diggers in their younger years - I'm going to arrange those a bit better and plant herbs in them.  If I must have them, might as well make them useful, yes?

I have plans to start attaching lengths of gutter to the fence to make vertical planters for lettuce and such.

Wow! You guys are making my fingers itch to to play in the dirt. :) But alas it's much too cold up here to take a chance on anything and we even have a few piles of snow left. When we moved here they told us to always wait until between Mother's Day and Memorial Day.  Although I was looking around in the garden today and my garlic has started to show little green stems.

It's probably a good thing it's so cold because I have to finish our new granddaughters quilt before we go visit her in three weeks. :)

It's been in the 70's here all week, but lots of rain and more due today and tomorrow.  I've got the bedding-out plants, (tomatoes, cayenne peppers, jalopenos, bells), potatoes and onions in the ground.  Still need to get the seeds started.  

My yard is small and my dogs are large, so most of my gardening is done in containers of various shapes and sizes.  Not pretty, but works quite well.  Cat litter buckets and steerite clear plastic boxes work a treat. I keep saying I'm going to buy some spray paint to hide the nuclear waste yellow color, but I never do.  Next year I will.  I swear.

Sadly, it's looking like an extra week or two here before I'll be able to plant anything outside.  I was planning to pick up a few plants and some seeds this coming weekend, but after watching ice encase my trees (and melt off again a couple of hours later), I'm thinking I may have to wait.

My blackberries seem to have survived after all, which I wasn't expecting, and I'm hoping they can hang in there a little longer until it's consistently warm again!

How is everyone else doing with their gardens or planning?

It was warm here and now it's cold again. :)

My bulb garden is starting to grow nicely and the garlic and shallots are showing nice little green spikes. It's still to early to plant anything else. I usually don't put anything else out until after Mother's Day.

I have seen a couple of bunnies hopping about and the family of racoons is back. They have discovered the bird feeder on the back deck and Zeus (our great dane) has decided they are his best friends but doesn't understand why they don't want to play.

Wild blackberries will live through anything,  I am not so sure about the domestic ones you purposely plant.

This is good to know.  A stranger - FedEx driver delivering a book  was telling me about a road where there are wild blackberries growing and I plan on going to get me some cuttings.  Do you know how I can go about getting them in my garden?  If I take a cutting and root it and then plant it will it grow?   or do I have to have the roots from the original plant.  But I dont want to take the whole plant.  

I have blueberries and raspberries and strawberries.  Planted last year so wondering what I will get this year.  But the wild blackberries sound delicious!

Hmmm, I've never tried it, but you might take some cuttings, dip them in Rootone and see if you can get them to root.  They will take over the world, so be warned :)

Hahahaha....yeah after driving to the remote location  and seeing the territory and how they took over whole sections of huge hills, we decided not to risk it.   For now I decided to wait and see if I can get my blueberries and raspberries which are already planted to grow...  no need to be greedy...might backfire on me. 

We are still trying to fight our critters....they keep eating every little green shoot. I actually planted a goji berry bush about 5 years ago and it has yet to give me more than a handful of berries but I still am, hopeful each year;  this year it was growing so good.....then something ate it....bunnie or rat ...dont know which.  But it will come back.  they are pretty hardy bushes....just not very many berries.  Guess I have to live in Tibet.  I had ordered the bushes from Utah. 

It will be exciting soon to hear what is coming up all over the couintry.

The potatoes are popping up - happy to know they survived the downpours of the last few weeks, not to mention the puppy digging some of them up to play with.  My early tomatoes and peppers are budding.  The bush beans are sprouting and the cucumbers should be popping up once this cool phase moves through.  I have a few more tomatoes to start, then I'm done with planting for a bit.

What do you do to keep the critters out.....deer, bunnies, rats, birds?   Our garden looks like a fortress and they still get in.  We have one fence, then another one over that with smaller holes then netting up to a certain point.....but something still gets into it.  We are still building ways to screen off sections.   Do you do anything to protect?  I would not mind them eating a little, but they take the whole row.  We are going to plant lettuce in gutters this year, about waist high and hopefully that helps.  Have never tried that.  We'll see.  I love potatoes.  We did that one year but have not done it again.  But they were fun.  Nothing budding yet.  

I live in town and my back yard is fenced, so don't have too much trouble with critters, beyond squirrels digging.  Other than the potatoes, everything is container grown.  As my dogs feel duty bound to keep the yard squirrel free when they are outside, it hasn't been too much of an issue.  They used to catch squirrels on the run, but they are a lot older now and not so fleet of foot.

The Square Foot Gardening book has some good ideas for building lightweight screens and such.  You might get some ideas from him.  You can get the book from Amazon, but I bought mine at Lowe's.

I'm wanting to do the gutter idea for my fence, but that will have to wait until next year.  

How are the gardens coming along?

Hi all!

After spending much time building a fortress against the critters and using netting on top of that with more netting on top of that.....well we finally have some veges growing.  The asparagus is just about finished but we have been eating that since the first of spring.  We are now getting zucchini and a few very small carrots.  We have lettuce and onions and chard.  We tried to grow some lettuce in gutters and it all came up but grew much slower than the ones in the ground.  We have tomatoes turning.  Out peppers did not do good this year and we are still struggling with those.  Corn coming up and cucumbers, green beans, okra, squash, cantaloupe and watermelon.   Blueberries not makin much progress and again, goji berries did not get any blooms.  I have beautiful peaches on my little dwarf tree just about ripening to perfection.  And I have one plum I am keeping my eye on.  

How are you guys doing? 

I live near Prescott, Arizona and that is where they lost those 19 firefighters.  We are all so very sad about that that it will not seem much of a 4th of July.  It is just too horrible to think about.  The whole crew was lost in the fire except one who had left to go move a truck.  Anyway, I hope you guys have a good 4th.  Stay safe.....and study hard.  

Lana, my heart goes out to the families in your area. It's just too awful to comprehend.

As far as gardening is concerned, I took a break this year and I'm just enjoying the 14 huge pots of blueberry plants that I planted last summer. I probably should not have allowed them to produce any  blueberries this year, but I did. I get a few every day. I put large, colorful pinwheels (is that what they call them?) and the birds are actually leaving the blueberries alone! Last year I lost the battle with the one blueberry bush that was producing. The birds got up earlier than I did and picked them off the second they were ready.

Stay safe everyone!

So far, so good, but it's early here in New England. We scaled it down this year, mainly because I'm in school and I'd rather study than weed! We planted a few different kinds of tomatoes, some of which are just starting to get some color on them. I can't wait to pick those and eat them. We also have jalapeno peppers and another pepper (I can't remember what color but I think maybe orange this year), green beans, butternut squash and a ton of herbs planted. My flower garden out front is looking beautiful, too, as long as I remember to water it. Happy gardening all!

I'm on my second round of planting for green beans, yellow squash, and cucumbers.  The garden got a late start because of the weather, but is doing well.    I wound up with about 20 pounds of russet potatoes, which was not bad for a trial run of less than 5lb pounds of potato sets.   The nice old gent at the feed and seed store must have thought I was nuts asking for so few - he gave them to me.  The tomatoes are beginning to turn, and I'll have plenty of peppers for jelly and relish.  The first run of cucumbers produced enough to share with neighbors, the lady that builds my computers, and my favorite waitress at the local diner.  

I have a small fenced area I call the dog-free zone where all my pot plants reside in the summer.  I'm slowly filling it with bulbs, gardenias, ginger, and other things I can remember in my grandmother's yard.  I've got a swing there - it's a great place for early morning coffee.

Next year I want to plant some corn and cucumbers together, so the vines can run up the stalks.  And I discovered vegetable marrow at the farmers market - yum....Oh and sweet potato sets, as well as russets...yes, my list is growing.  Heheh

Okay, now you're inspiring me! Is there anything that it wouldn't be too late to plant here in Oklahoma with the 100-degree heat and humidity? I have lots of seeds, but didn't plant anything this year. :(

You might be able to get some bush beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes going, but I'm not sure.  Yellow squash matures pretty quick.  It would depend on when the first frost is expected.  If I remember from my time in Elk City, that's sometime in September or October?  Wish I lived closer, I'd bring you some tomato sets.  I'm up to my waist in extra tomato plants. 

There are always winter crops too, like cabbage, broccoli, and greens.  At least those are winter crops here.  We seldom have snow.

I wish you were closer too!  Well, the 100-degree PLUS weather probably would be fine for tiny seeds, but once they are seedlings, it would probably burn them up. We've been having warmer falls and winters recently, so I might luck out there. One never knows around here.